Method and apparatus for waving hair



Jan. 27, 1942. B, F, DAws 2,270,933

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR WAVING HAIR Filed Sept. 11, 1941 i" a g/ 192 50 INVENTO;

' ATTORNE$ Patented Jan. 27, 1942 OFFICE METHQD AND AIPARATUS FOR WVAVIN G HAIR Bianca F. Davis, Teaneck, N. .1.

Application September 11, 1941, Serial No. il,387

(Cl. l32-32l 17 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in method and apparatus for waving hair. It is particularly useful in connection wtih imparting a so-called marcel Wave to hair, and for illustrative purposes is described herein as related to that type of wave. The usefulness of the invention, however, is not limited to marcel waving, as it may be adapted to other types of waving.

Numerous difficulties have heretofore been en countered in satisfactorily imparting a marcel wave to hair. Among the more pronounced of these difficulties were: the provision of means for tensioning hair which is wound in a strand substantially in the form of a figure eight; the provision of winding means for winding the outer ends of strands of hair and holding them wound while at the same time the remainder of the strand is held in its wound condition; the provision of means for conveniently winding the hair, which means would permit the holding of numerous strands of hair simultaneously in wound condition whereby to enable one to wave an entire head of hair in a minimum of time; and the provision of efficient locking means at the scalp end of a strand of hair which would not impart a curl or wave at the scalp end of the hair of a different type not harmonious with the Wave imparted to the remainder of the strand.

The principal objects of the present invention are the provision of an improved method and means for overcoming the aforementioned difficulties. Other objects will become apparent from the following specification and the accompanying drawing.

In accomplishing the objects of this invention, I preferably arrange for the winding of a strand of hair, substantially in the shape of a figure eight, upon two tubes held temporarily in sub stantially parallel relationship upon a holder which is of such proportions and shape that it may be handled easily as the hair is wound and that substantially an entire strand of hair may be wound on said tubes. As the size of such a holder would probably preclude the practice of leaving a plurality of said holders upon the head, and as it is desirable, in practice, to simultaneously hold numerous strands of hair in wound condition upon the head at one time, I provide a frame having means for gripping a strand of hair, near the scalp, while the hair is held in wound condition on the tubes disposed upon the holder, the said frame, also, being adapted to receive said tubes with the hair wound thereon so that they may be disassociated from said holder in a manner hereinafter explained. The frame referred to is preferably small enough that a number of them may be simultaneously used upon the head without undue discomfort.

The objects of the invention are further accomplished by arranging that the two tubes, with the hair wound thereon, are disposed in the frame upon separate, relatively movable cradle members thereof which, in any suitable manner, may be spread apart whereby to tension the hair upon said tubes and to cause the hair to hub the tubes closely where it passes therearound. The frame, also, may be adapted to receive a separate device for curling or waving the outer end of the strand of hair and for tensioning the hair on said device.

For purposes of illustration and without in any way limiting my present invention, a preferred embodiment of the invention is described hereinafter in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a holder and a strand of hair wound upon two tubes held by said holder, in readiness to have the said tubes transferred to the frame.

Fig. 2 is an elevational View of the holder shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a frame, a hair clamp thereon being shown in open position, and certain hingedly connected cradle members of the frame being shown in proper relative positions to receive, from the holder, the said two tubes with the hair wound thereon.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the frame with the said two tubes, after the latter have been disassociated from the holder, the hair clamp on the holder being closed upon the strand of hair at a point near the scalp, the said hingedly connected cradle members of the frame being in such relative positions that the two tubes are spread apart and the hair thereon tensioned, and includes also a separate device upon which the outer end of the strand of hair is wound and tensioned.

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic end View of the said cradle members in the relative positions in which they appear in Fig. 3, and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic end view of the said cradle members in the relative positions in which they appear in Fig. 4.

Referring now to the drawing with greater particularity, the illustrated embodiment of my invention may comprise generally a holder H, a pair of tubes l2, a frame it, and an end curler l4.

The purpose of the holder l l is to afford means of a suitable size and shape upon which hair may conveniently be wound. It may be provided with a handle l5, which may be of wood or other suitable material, from which a pair of substantially parallel fingers I6 extend and are adapted to receive thereon the tubes [2. The latter, preferably, are open at each end and their interior diameters are slightly greater than the exterior diameters of the fingers I6 so that the said tubes may be slid axially onto said fingers.

To safeguard against unintentional removal of the tubes I2 from the holder, before the winding of the strand of hair has been substantially completed, I provide a gripping member I1, pivotally at an intermediate point thereof upon a pivot pin I8 suitably retained in a yoke I9. The latter may be fixed upon either or both the handle I or the fingers I5 of the holder in any convenient manner, as by having the fingers I6 extend, in a tight fit, through portions lSa of the yoke. If desired, the yoke may be fastened to the handle I5 by one or more screws (not shown in the drawing).

Upon one end of the gripping member I1 is fixed a cross-piece 20, upon which may be suitably secured a friction-piece 2| of rubber or the like, adapted to frictionally engage the tubes l2 under substantial compression generated by a compression coil spring 22, the upper end of which presses upwardly against the other end of the gripping member I1, and the lower end of which spring bears downwardly upon the handle I5, being preferably seated within a shallow recess provided in said handle. By pressing downwardly upon the spring-pressed end of the gripping member I1 the friction-piece 2! is caused to disengage the tubes I2, whereupon the holder may be withdrawn from said tubes in a manner hereinafter described.

As a matter of convenience in assembling the holder, the fingers I6 are formed of a single U- shaped rod, and the handle I5, disposed within the closed end of said rod, is of proper width to serve as a spacer for said fingers so that the tubes I2 may be spaced properly when the hair is wound thereon. A finger-piece 23 is preferably provided upon the spring-pressed end of the gripping member I1, and a spring clip 24 may be employed for temporarily holding the outer end of that portion of the strand of hair which is wound upon the tubes I2 until tensioning of the hair has been completed as hereinafter described.

The purpose of the frame I3 is to afford means for receiving from the holder the tubes I2 and the strand of hair wound thereon. The said frame may include a clamp which, while the hair is on the holder, may extend about said strand between the holder and the scalp and may securely grip saidstrand at that point in order to hold the frame in its proper position with respect to the hair to be waved. The said clamp may comprise two elongate clamping members 25 and 26, the former serving, in addition to its clamping function, as a relatively rigid spacer and support for a pair of substantially similar cradle members 21 and 28 which are fixed upon the ends of the member 25 at opposite ends of the frame I3, and. the clamping member 26 being pivotally connected at 29 to the cradle member 28. Each of the clamping members 25 and 26 may be covered with a friction-piece 30, preferably in the form of a flat rubber tube. Thus, the members 25 and 26 constitute a jackknife clamp within which the aevdese strand of hair may extend, and, when the said clamping members are brought together, the strand of hair is securely held by the frictionpieces 30.

The clamping member 25 and 26 are held together in closed position by a latch arrangement which may comprise a latch yoke 31, one end of which is pivotally mounted at 32 upon the free end of the clamping member 26. Within the yoke 3|, at the other end thereof, is pivotally mounted a toggle 33, the left endof which, as viewed in Fig. 3, functions as a handle 34, while the opposite end thereof is bifurcated and is provided with a pin 35 extending therethrough, which pin, when the latch is closed (as shown in Fig. 4), is adapted to seat within a recess 36 .(best seen in Fig. 3) formed in an extension 31 fixed upon one end of the cradle member 21.

,In order to close the clamping members 25 and 26, they are brought together by swinging the latter member about the pivot 29, while the latch yoke 3| is swung somewhat outwardly as shown in Fig. 3, so that said yoke and the toggle 33 may pass around the outer end of the extension 31. Thereafter the said toggle is rotated in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 3 so that the pin 35 will seat within the recess 36. Then, by continuing the counterclockwise motion of said toggle as far as possible, the parts will be brought to the positions shown in Fig. 4, when the said latch will constitute a toggle connection which will securely hold the clamping members 25 and 26 together. When the said clamp is thus closed, the extension 31 extends within the bifurcated end of the toggle 33 and a tongue (not shown in the drawing), formed integrally with the cradle member 21, extends into a groove 38 on the clamping member 26. As a result of the stated tongue-and-groove relationship between the said extension and the bifurcated end of the toggle, and between the said tongue and groove, the clamping members 25 and 26 are securely held in proper alignment when closed.

The cradle members 21 and 28, which are fixedly secured or integrally formed upon opposite ends of the clamping member 25, extend upwardly substantially perpendicularly to the latter through planes which are substantially parallel to each other. The said cradle members are provided with similar notches 39, 40, which are somewhat wider than the outside diameter of the tubes I2 and, together, are adapted to receive one of said tubes after the hair is wound thereon.

At substantially corresponding points upon the cradle members 21 and 28, are pivotally mounted, on pivot pins 4| and 42, a pair of pivotal cradle members 43, 44. The latter cradle members, similarly to members 21 and 28, are provided with notches 45, 46, likewise adapted to accommodate one of the tubes I2, and the said pivotal cradle members are connected to work in unison by a connecting bar 41 which serves as a handle for operating the members 43, 44. From the foregoing description and from the accompanying drawing, it may be observed that, except for the described clamp and latch arrangement, the opposite ends of the frame I3 are substantially alike.

The extreme positions of the pivotal members 43, 44 are shown in Figs. 3 and 4. A stop in the form of a lug 48 on either or both of the cradle members 21, 28, may serve to limit the movement of the cradle members 43 and 44 to their position indicated in Figs. 3 and 5 (hereinafter referred to as the untensioned position of the frame), while the engagement of protuberances 43a, 4411, on the cradle members 43, 44, with the bases of the cradle members 21, 28 or with the clamping member 25, at the junctures of the latter with the last-mentioned cradle members, serves to limit movement of the pivotal members 43 and 44 to their position indicated in Figs. 4 and 6 (hereinafter referred to as the tensioned position of the frame).

When the pivotal members 43, 44 are in the said untensioned position, the spacing between the notches 39 and 40, which are adapted to accommodate one of the tubes I2, and the notches and 46, which are adapted to accommodate the other of the tubes I2, is such that, while the said tubes are still held upon the holder H, the

frame l3 may be positioned between said holder 7 and the scalp with the said tubes l2 resting within the said notches in the cradle members and with the clamping members 25 and 25 dis-- posed about the strand of hair between the scalp and said holder.

With the holder and frame in the position just mentioned, the clamping members 25 and 26 may be brought together and held in clamping position by the latch arrangement already described, thus holding th frame upon the head with the friction-pieces 3i! disposed adjacent the scalp. Then the finger-piece 23 of the holder may be pressed, thereby permitting the fingers l6 of the holder to be withdrawn from within the tubes I2, after which there will be no further need for using the holder in treating this particular strand of hair.

After the holder has been removed, the tubes l2 may be moved farther apart by rotating the cradle members 43 and 44 in a clockwise direction from their positions shown in Figs. 3 and 5, this being accomplished by pressing downwardly upon the connecting bar 4! until the latter and the connected cradle members 43 and 44 reach the tensioned position shown in Figs. 4 and 6. By comparing Figs. 5 and 6 it may be seen that, when the frame is in the tensioned position indicated in the latter figure, the tubes I2 will be farther apart than when the frame is untensioned, hence the strand of hair wound upon the tubes I2 is tensioned thereon and the said tubes are securely held in place within the notches of the several cradle members by said tension. From such a comparison of Figs. 5 and 6, it also may be observed that the said clockwise movement of the cradle members 43, 44 will carry the axis of the tube disposed in the notches 45, 4%, through and slightly below a straight line passing through the pivot pin 4! and the axis of the other tube. Thus, the tensioned hair, extending between said tubes, operates as a toggle which holds the frame in tensioned position.

At this stage of operations the greater part of the strand of hair is wound and tensioned in the desired manner, but the outer end of the strand remains to be wound in order that it, as well as the main portion of the strand, may be waved. To accomplish this, means are provided whereby the said end of the strand may be wound upon a suitable curling device, and the latter "mounted upon the frame already described. In this connection it should be noted that when the pivotal cradle members 43, 44 are in tensioned position, a third set of notches 49, is available on the top of the device. The

notch 49 (as best seen in Fig. 6) is formed by a prong 5| extending upwardly from the top of cradle member 27, and a similar prong 52, which, when the cradle member 43 is in tensioned position as shown in Figs. 4 and 6, extends upwardly from the top of the last-mentioned cradle member. The notch 55 is formed by similar prongs on the cradle members 28 and 44. The said notches 4.5, 50 are of a suitable size to accommodate therewithin the ends of a curler 53, the latter, when disposed within said notches, resting upon the top of the main portions of the several cradle members.

The curler 53 may be of a kind which is in common usage for curling strands of hair. It is preferably of such design that hair may be wound thereon in the form of a superimposed curl, as illustrated in Fig. 4, in which the outer end of the strand is placed upon the curler and the strand wound thereon toward the scalp with each winding overlying the preceding windings. As well understood in the art, the curler 53, illustrated in the drawing, may accommodate a strand of hair wound thereon in the form of a substantially non-overlying spiral, if that form of curl is desired. The said curler, as illustrated, may comprise a hollow tube which is tapered slightly toward one end thereof. Toward the enlarged end of the tapered portion may be pivotally mounted, at 54, a clamping element 55. The enlarged end of the tapered portion preferably terminates a short distance from the adjacent end of the curler, so that the opposite ends 56 and 57 of the curler are of substantially similar diameters and may rest within the similar notches 49 and 55.

In using the curler 53 in conjunction with the other apparatus herein described, the end of the strand of hair may first be held together within a piece of cloth or paper and then inserted underneath the clamping arm 55 and between said arm and the body portion of the curler, this being done before the curler is associated with the remainder of the apparatus. Then the portion of the strand of hair which is not wound upon the tubes [2 is wound upon the said curler by manually rotating the latter axially in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4. As this winding progresses, the hair wound upon the curler holds the clamping element 55 closed and the ends 56 and 57 of the curler are placed within the notches 4.9 and 58, after which the rotation of said curler may be continued and tension set up in the hair thereon by means of a suitable square-end key (not shown) which may fit into a square opening 58 in one end of the curler.

In order to prevent the tension on the hair Wound upon the curler 53 from easing off either during or after the winding of the hair, there is provided a double coil spring 58 having coils Si) and El both wound in the same direction around the end 55 of the curler in very close engagement therewith. As can be seen from Fig. l, the coils t8 and iii are connected together at their adjacent ends by a loop 62 of the spring, which loop extends over the prong 52, and both said coils extend from said loop, first under, then around and over the curler, so that while the operator may manually hold the loop 62 to prevent turning of the spring, the curler, neverthe loss, may be turned in the direction of the arrow, and when turned in that direction has a tendency to slightly open the said coils, so that such turning of the curler may be accomplished without binding. An attempt to turn the curler in the other direction, however, tends to close the said coils and cause the spring to more securely grip the curler, thus preventing the hair from unwinding and preventing easing of the tension until the-apparatus is to be disassembled. When the strand is fully tensioned, the spring clip 24 may be removed.

It will be seen that, after the hair is completely wound and tensioned on the apparatus as shown in Fig. 4, and assuming, of course, that the hair has been preliminarily or is at this stage moistened or otherwise treated in a suitable manner, it is ready to have the heat applied thereto in order to impart permanency to the wave. This may be accomplished by inserting in each of the tubes l2 and in the curler 53, heating rods which preferably are heated by means of an electric heating element encased therewithin, or, if desired, the rods may be heated by any suitable means before they are inserted in the tubes and in the curler. The heating rods, however, form no part of the present invention, and, hence, are not shown in the drawing.

After the hair has been subjected to heat for the desired time, the heating rods may be slid out of the tubes and curler and removed and the frame may be opened by manually lifting the connecting .bar 4! to relieve the tension upon the hair, whereupon the tubes and the curler may be removed easily from the frame and from within the waves of hair. The clamping members 25, 26 may then be opened by reversing the described closing movements of the latch arrangement, whereupon the frame may be removed from the hair.

Hair treated, as hereinbefore described, receives a marcel wave rather than the curl given by conventional permanent hair-waving means, and hence the subsequent setting of the hair is more easily accomplished. In conventional practice, the setting operation involves changing a curl into a wave, while the present invention yields a wave in the first instance and yields, as an ultimate result, a much more attractive hairdress.

Except as otherwise suggested in the foregoing specification, the various parts of the described apparatus may be of metal suitable for the purpose.

It may be found advantageous to set up more tension in some types of hair than in others, and to accomplish this the holder Ii may be so constructed that the fingers IS may be adjustable so that the spacing therebetween may be varied. Thus, if the said fingers and the tubes 12 thereon are relatively close together when the hair is wound thereon, the tension imparted to the hair, in spreading said tubes apart to the limits dictated by the structure of the frame 13, would be greater than if the said fingers and tubes were farther apart when the hair was wound thereon.

A similar variation in tens-ion may be accomplished by providing a frame l3 in which the pivot pins 4| and 42 and the cradle members 43, 44 carried thereby are shiftable in a plane substantially parallel to a plane passing longitudinally through both the clamping members and 26, thus (as may be understood from Fig. 6) permitting variation in the spacing of the notches 39, and 45, 46. It may also be feasible for an operator to have several holders having different spacing between the fingers I6 or several sizes of frames, so that by selecting the proper holder or frames for use, the desired effects may be obtained.

It will be understood, by those conversant with the art of hair waving, that solid rods may be used in place of the tubes [2 or the curler 53. If this alternative were to be adopted, it would, of course, be necessary to employ means, different from that illustrated, to releasably mount the rods, used in place of said tubes, upon the holder; possibly resorting to a socket arrangement in the handle IE to receive such rods. If solid rods should be used instead of said tubes or curler, it is clear that heating means other than the mentioned heating rods would be employed. Such other means, for example, might be in the form of external heating devices which could be disposed over the hair on said rods or curler. Obviously such external heating devices may also be employed instead of the mentioned heating rods even though it may be considered desirable to retain the tubular form of the tubes I2 and the curler 5 3. The said curler may, of course, be cylindrical instead of tapered as illustrated.

It is reiterated that the embodiment described herein and the suggested structural variations have been employed only for illustrative purposes and that, without departing from the spirit of the invention, it may be practiced by other means which may give effect to the inventive concept as defined in the accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

1. A method of Waving hair comprising winding the hair on a separable portion of a holding device, transferring said separable portion with the hair thereon to a frame, and removing the remainder of said device whereby to leave the hair and said separable portion associated with said frame during a part of the treating of the hair.

2. A method of waving hair comprising winding a strand of hair back and forth upon a pair of substantially parallel rods separably carried upon a holding device, transferring said rods with the hair thereon to a frame, separating said holding device from said rods whereby to leave the hair and said rods associated with said frame, moving said rods away from each other in said frame whereby to tension the hair and holding said rods as so moved whereby to maintain such tension.

3. Apparatus for waving hair comprising a holder having a pair of fingers, held in substantially fixed parallel relationship and adapted to releasably hold a pair of rods spaced apart substantially parallel to each other, and a manually operable gripping member adapted to frictionally engage such rods which may be held by said fingers whereby to prevent unintentional separation of such rods from the holder.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3, further characterized in including a pair of tubular rods adapted to be slid upon said fingers and, when so associated with said holder, to have hair wound back and forth thereon.

5. Apparatus for waving hair comprising a holder having a handle, a pair of spaced fingers held in substantially parallel relationship upon said handle, a pair of tubes adapted to receive said fingers therewithin, and a manually operable gripping member carried upon said handle and adapted to frictionally engage said tubes whereby to prevent unintentional separation of said tubes from the remainder of the holder.

6. Apparatus for Waving hair comprising a holder having a handle, a pair of spaced fingers held in substantially parallel relationship upon said handle, a pair of tubes adapted to receive said fingers therewithin, and a manually operable gripping member carried upon said fingers and adapted to frictionally engage said tubes whereby to prevent unintentional separation of said tubes from the remainder of the holder.

7. A holding device for use in waving hair comprising a handle, a pair of spaced fingers extending in substantially parallel relationship from said handle, a pair of tubes adapted to extend over said fingers, and a manually operable gripping member pivotally mounted at a point on the device which is fixed relatively to said handl and fingers and having a portion, removed from the mounting point of said member, and adapted to frictionally engage said tubes whereby to prevent unintentional separation of said tubes from the remainder of the device.

8. A holding device according to claim '7, further characterized in that the said gripping member is a lever, rockable about its pivot mounting which is located at an intermediate point thereof, one end of said lever being adapted to engage both said tubes and the other end having a spring associated therewith urging the tube-engaging end of said member into releasable gripping engagement; with said tubes.

9. In apparatus for waving hair, a frame comprising a first cradle adapted to hold a rod therein, a second cradle, movable relatively to the first cradle and adapted to hold a second rod therein, said cradles being so connected together that rods therein will lie substantially parallel to each other irrespective of the relative positions of the cradles and being adapted for relative movement between an untensioned position in which such rods are in one relative position and a tensioned position in which such rods are farther apart than in the said untensioned position, whereby such movement of such rods to the tensioned position may increase the tension of hair wound back and forth on such rods.

10. In apparatus for waving hair, a frame according to claim 9, further characterized in having, underneath said cradles, a pair of pivotally connected clamping members one of which is fixedly secured to one of said cradles, said members being relatively movable in a plane substantially parallel to a plane extending longitudinally through both such rods, whereby a strand of hair may extend in a substantially straight line from the scalp, between said clamping members, and to the inner side of either of such tubes to avoid giving an undesired curl or wave to that portion of the strand.

11. In apparatus for waving hair, a frame according to claim 9, further comprising protuberances on the first and second cradles which, when the two latter are in tensioned position, form a third cradle adapted to hold a third rod therein.

12. In apparatus for waving hair, a frame according to claim 9, further characterized in that the said cradles are pivotally connected and adapted for relative movement about said pivotal connection whereby to shift the rods carried thereby to increase the tension of hair wound back and forth thereon.

13. Apparatus for waving hair comprising a pair of rods upon which a portion of a strand of hair may be wound back and forth while they are in substantially parallel positions, and a frame for holding said rods with hair wound thereon, comprising a pair of rigidly connected spaced cradle members having recesses adapted to receive one of said rods, a second pair of rigidly connected spaced cradle members having recesses adapted to receive the other of said rods, the said pairs of cradle members being so connected as to hold said rods substantially in parallel relationship irrespective of the relative positions of the said two pairs of cradle members, and means for laterally moving said pairs of cradle members relatively to each other whereby to move said rods laterally apart to a tensioned position to tension hair Wound back and forth thereon.

14. Apparatus according to claim 13, further compwng a third rod, upon which a portion of a strand of hair may be wound which is adjacent to that portion of the same strand wound upon the two first-mentioned rods, and the said cradle members having portions which, when the frame is in said tensioned position, combine to form a further pair of recesses adapted to receive said third rod therein.

15. Apparatus according to claim 13, further characterized in that the said pairs of cradle members are pivotally connected and adapted for relative movement about said pivotal connection whereby to shift the rods carried thereby to increase the tension of hair wound back and forth thereon,

16. Apparatus for Waving hair comprising, in

combination, a pair of rods upon which hair may be wound back and forth, a holder having a pair of substantially parallel fingers adapted to hold said rods while hair is being wound thereon and means for releasably holding said rods upon said fingers, and a cradle having clamping means for clamping it to a strandof hair at a point near the scalp, a pair of pivotally connected cradle members adapted to pivot between untensioned and tensioned positions, each said member having a pair of spaced notches, one pair of which is adapted to receive one of said rods and the other pair of which is adapted to receive the other of said rods when a strand of hair is wound upon said rods and said cradle members are in untensioned positions, said cradle, further, having means for manually moving said cradle members from their untensioned positions to tensioned positions whereby said pairs of notches are moved and held apart and the hair wound on said rods is tensioned.

17. Apparatus according to claim 16, further characterized in that portions of said cradle members, when the latter are in tensioned positions, combine to form a third pair of notches, the said combination, further, comprising a curling rod adapted to have the end of a strand of hair wound thereon, said third pair of notches being adapted to receive the said curling rod therewithin.

BIANCA F. DAVIS. 

